Three Generations Touched by Angel Island 

Written, designed and performed by Susan Moffat, based on a film by Connie Young Yu

This story of one girl’s experience of her mother’s race-based detention, family separation, and her daughter’s activism to preserve the buildings and stories of the Angel Island Immigration Station is told through kamishibai or “paper theater.” Kamishibai is a form of itinerant Japanese storytelling that uses paintings on cardboard and a portable wooden stage.

My intention is to create an analog visual story of the sort usually done on a screen. I hope the live performance helps the visitor learn about the history of exclusionary laws while connecting physically and emotionally with one family’s journey.

In the past, I and my students have experimented with creating outdoor installations, augmented reality, virtual reality, and downloadable audio tours that use “borrowed landscapes” to tell California history. This time, I wanted to try a completely analog approach using simple images and live speech.

I also intended this story to illustrate the importance of political activism for historic preservation, and the way that historic sites can spur an understanding of the past that empowers people to shape the future. 

–Susan Moffat